Pretty Lucy
by alidragon
Summary: Pretty Lucy, based on the song Pretty Women. Mrs. Lovett’s views on pretty women/pretty Lucy. It starts with Mrs. Lovett asking Sweeney if he remembers what Lucy looks like but before Anthony rushes in. second fanfiction. Hope you like it.


SWEENEY TODD

Pretty Lucy, based on the song Pretty Women. Mrs. Lovett's on pretty women/pretty Lucy. It starts with Mrs. Lovett asking Sweeney if he remembers what Lucy looks like but before Anthony rushes in.

I do not own "Sweeney Todd" or any of the characters from the musical and movie. If I could have one wish it would be to have been there when Tim Burton and Johnny Depp discussed making the movie. Love the dark themes both seem to like in their movies.

The door opens and Mrs. Lovett walks in carrying a tray. "Brought you up some breakfast, dearie." She tells Sweeney.

Sweeney Todd is standing with one arm braced above his head on the window frame, the other is behind his back hold his razor, his friend. He is staring out the window barely aware of what is going on around him. If he isn't pacing back and forth in front of the large window he is staring out it for long endless hours. Lost to whatever images play out behind his eyes, he is caught up in the past and his all consuming need for revenge. Sweeney hardly acknowledges that Mrs. Lovett has entered the room.

"_He barely eats, rarely sleeps, all he does is stare out that damn window. I wonder what he sees out there?" _she thinks_ "Is it Lucy, prefect, beautiful Mrs. Lucy Barker? Never had to do a hard days work Mrs. Barker, never had to worry about nothing till it all came crashing down around her Mrs. Barker. Is that what you see out there Mr. Todd? Is it? Or is it the Judge you are looking at? Are you imagining his death? Is that what you see?"_

But instead of asking him what he sees outside the window she asks "Mr. T, can I ask you a question?"

Sweeney had been thinking about the Judge, and what he would do to him if he ever got him alone. During the last fifteen years he had witnessed all manner of torture and horrible deaths. He had seen men die long painful deaths at the hands of their guard and interrogators. He had seen fellow prisoners torture and kill each other over a slipped cup of water and an imagined slight. Benjamin Barker had been shocked, repulsed and appalled by the cruelty and violence he was forced to witness and endure. It had given birth to Sweeney Todd and he had long ago accepted the cruelty of man. Barker's world was one of sunshine and light; the world Todd looked out on was bleak and dark. Now he used the memories and images from the past to plan for the Judge demise. Images of the Judges death played behind his eyes, in his mind the Judge replaced the prisoners he had see die, their horrible deaths became the Judges death. Sweeney's hands ached to liberate the Judge's spirit from his body, to hear his cries for mercy, to see his blood flow.

"What?" Suddenly he was aware of Mrs. Lovett standing behind him, that she has asked him something.

"What did your Lucy look like?" she asks quietly.

"_His Lucy, what did she look like? Why did she need to know that" _He thought.

Sweeney did not like talking to Mrs. Lovett about Lucy. He liked to keep them separate. His perfect, pretty innocent Lucy could not live the world of Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd. She would not understand what her Benjamin had become, what he had to do. She would not like Sweeney Todd; he was so different from the Benjamin Barker she had married, Sweeney Todd would frighten his sweet innocent Lucy.

Mrs. Lovett on the other hand understood who Sweeney Todd was, and more amazingly she wasn't afraid of him. No matter what he did, how he acted she was always there in the shadows picking up after him, and cleaning his mess, and easing his pain. She was always there making sure he ate, making sure he slept. He wasn't always aware she was there, but food seemed to appear in front of him when he was hungry, clean sheets were on his bed. While he hated to admit it, he needed her. She was what kept the demons at bay, prevented them from totally taking him over. What little sanity he still had was linked to Nellie Lovett. She would tell him to "Wait" when he would want to attack the Beetle in the market, to "Wait" for the Judge to come to him. She reminded him that where was a time and a place for everything.

Just as Sweeney Todd and Benjamin Barker were separate, Nellie and Lucy had to be separated. The world that he and Nellie lived in was a cruel, harsh and dark one. Benjamin and Lucy belonged to a world filled with sunshine, flowers and singing birds. A place filled with smiles and laugher. His world, his and Nellie's world had no laugher, only tears.

"_When was the last time I saw the sun or hear a bird sing?" _he wondered continuing to stare out the window on the dark rainy streets of London.

"What did your Lucy look like Mr. T?" She asked again "You can't even remember, can you?"

"Lucy, she had yellow hair." He answered distractedly. He did not want to talk about Lucy

"But what was she like?" Mrs. Lovett probed

"She was pretty"

He never wanted to talk about his sweet precious Lucy. She was just as she had been all those years ago. She never changed, she would always be the perfect pretty Lucy; time had no effect on his Lucy. How did you compete with someone who never aged, never had a bad day, and never changed from a fifteen year old photo? She would always the pretty Lucy, fascinating him. She would always be sipping her coffee in the morning sunlight or dancing around their rooms. Pretty Lucy was such a wonder.

But did she ever do a days work. No, her father had made sure Lucy had never had to worry about anything, and then Benjamin looked after her when they married. Did she know about making sure the bills and the rent were paid? No, Benjamin had looked after all that and then Mrs. Lovett had tried after he had been transported. No sweet pretty Lucy had no idea about how to live in the big cruel world.

"Is that all you can say? She was pretty. Do you know how sad that sounds" Mrs. Lovett snapped back at him.

"What do you mean? She was pretty, I used to love watching her, sitting in the window  
or standing on the stair, there was just something about her that cheered the air."

"Unlike me, you mean who is to damn busy to sit in the window, or stand on the stair. You know Mr. T women are more than a pretty face and yellow hair. Some of us have to work, and work hard just to get by. We aren't lucky or unlucky enough to have some man look after us."

Turning on her with that evil stare of his, Sweeney roars and backs her towards the wall "Just what are you trying to say Mrs. Lovett"

Not backing down she continues. "You never gave Lucy a chance did you? All the men in her life were just too mesmerized by her looks to really make sure she could look after herself. You, her father, the judge, all of you were far too happy to watch her silhouetted in the sunlight. You kept her in a gilled cage just as the judge keeps poor pretty Joanna in a cage. Bars made of gold and good intentions but a cage all the same."

"You have no idea what you're talking about. Lucy was special; there was something about her that stayed within you. Lucy was the kind of woman that just a glace from her stayed with you forever. You think I don't remember, I remember her blowing out our candles, combing her hair. Even when she leaves you and vanishes, there is something about her that somehow can still remain there with you"

"It may have stayed with you, but it did her no good. Your sweet pretty Lucy was ill prepared for the world without you there to look after her. She fell apart the minute you were arrested. She had no idea what to do. Oh! She put on a good face at that farce of a trial. But outside the court room where you could not see she was lost, she was a mess. All she did from the minute the police took you was sit and cry by this window. She barely looked after Joanna, let alone herself."

"What do you know about it? She'd just lost her husband." Sweeney growled at Mrs. Lovett pushing her up again the wall.

"You forget Mr. Todd I lost a husband too. But I survived. I went on" she spat back.

"What should she have done?" yelled at her

"Fought for you. She should have fought for you Sweeney, instead of sitting up here crying her eyes out every day." Mrs. Lovett told him. "If you had been my husband I would have broken down the doors of every judge in London trying to get you a new trail. I would have sold what ever I had to get you a good lawyer. I wouldn't have stopped till I got you back. I would not have sat around crying my eyes out."

"But you weren't my wife were you."

"No, I was just the landlady that had to clean up after all of you. Your Pretty Lucy was better suited to looking in the mirror, writing frilly letters, walking in gardens, picking flowers and watching the weather go by. But she was not prepared for the real world. She did not know what to do, so she did nothing. I would have begged browed or stolen to get you back. If I couldn't do that I would have tried to go wherever they sent you."

"You don't know what you're talking about" Sweeney growled at Mrs. Lovett "Lucy was pretty, she made my heart sing. She was proof of heaven, as you're living."

"And you do? You were not there Mr. T. I was the one who changed your daughter's diapers and feed her, I was the one she cried for when the Judge came and took her, not your pretty Lucy. After the trail was over she barely acknowledge that she had a daughter. Without you she couldn't do anything. Without you all she did was sit up here and cry. I was the one that sold things so they would have food on the table. I was the one who made your Pretty Lucy eat, made her clean herself up, and tried to get her to look after Joanna." Mrs. Lovett growled back at him. "Being pretty did your Lucy no good when things got tough."

"If you were looking after her so well, how was it she ended up at the Judges house?"

Sweeney snarled at her as he pushed her back into the wall "How was it that she took poison if you were taking such good care of her?"

"I told her not to go with the Beetle. I told her that it wasn't right. Oh, but your Lucy trusted people, she had no idea how cruel the world is out there. If the Beetle said that the Judge had reconsidered, then the Judge had reconsidered. If he needed to talk to about getting you back than she had to go. She flew out of these rooms without a thought about Joanna, without a second thought about what she might be walking into. Someone had to stay with the child. And it wasn't like I could ask Albert to look after her while I went to get Lucy. He wanted them out, and believe me I paid for letting them stay." Subconsciously Mrs. Lovett rubbed her jaw at the memory of Albert's anger when she refused to throw Lucy and Joanna out on the street. "I had a life Mr. Todd, I had my own responsibilities, I tried to do right by both of them but I could not watch her all the time. The day she took the poison she came down into the shop the first time in weeks. I thought she was getting better, I was so happy to see her out of these rooms. But she wasn't better, she stole money from the cash when I was busy and when to the apothecary down the street. By the time I realized something was wrong she had taken the poison and was about to give it to Joanna." She stopped to catch her breath. "Your Pretty Lucy was lovely to look at but she couldn't live in this world. Being pretty did not but food on the table didn't pay the rent. Being pretty did not stop bad things from happening. In fact it made it worse. She just could not cope in a world filled with the kind of darkness we know about. Her world was filled with sunshine and flowers and when the sun went out so did Lucy."

"And I suppose you would have done so much better if you had been in her place. You would have survived losing a husband, raising a child on your own and being raped." He spat out at her "Lucy did the best she could. I was the one that let her down."

"Trust me Mr. T I have survived far worse than that. I survive; I swore a long time ago that I would never allow myself to be a victim ever again. I don't have time for tears. If I had been in Lucy's place I would have gone on for Joanna if for nothing else. The one piece I had left of you, your child, I would have gone on for her. But your Lucy just gave up. She gave up on herself, she gave up on Joanna, and she gave up on you." Mrs. Lovett told him and pushed herself away from the wall and brushed pasted Sweeney. Walking toward the door "She didn't believe you would ever come back for them."

Grabbing her arm Sweeney turned Mrs. Lovett back to face him. "And you would have?" he asked her.

Reaching down she pulled his razor out of its holster, and waved it in front of his face. "Ask yourself why I kept these around, why don't you." And with that she pulled her arm out of his grasps, but the razor in his hand and walked out of the room, passing Anthony on the stairs.

Sweeney stood staring down at the razor in his hand.

Anthony runs into the room. "Mr. Todd……..

This may be just a one shot unless you think I should explore this more. Let me know what you think.


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